standard magnitude Uosat-12
Tony Beresford (starman@camtech.net.au)
Mon, 17 May 1999 23:09:56 +0930
Fellow satellite observers,
I got a prompt reply to my query to Surrey satellite ltd
about Uosat-12, in the form of an attached Word document
with some drawings with dimensions from aubrey Nice,
the Press & public relations Officer.
The satellite itself is a polygonal "cylinder",
which is circumscribed by a 1.15meter diameter circle,
and is 0.75 meters high. The Earth facing area is thus about
1 square meter.If one was looking at the object side on the
area is 0.86 square meters. I shall assume an a figure of 1.
The satellite is usually in a stabilized
earth-pointing mode. This area implies a brightness of
mag 7.2 at 1609km and thus about mag 6.0 at 1000Km
range. I would suggest a standard magnitude of 6.0.
As the Earth facing plate is flat, a correction to
half illumination seems unnecessary. I shall shall have to look
out for it.
Incidentally these figures reduce the average density to about
0.4 gms/cc, much more realizable figure!
Tony Beresford